CARLOS ‘The Showstopper’ Petterson-Grifith, will not attend this year’s World Powerlifting Championships in Sweden due to issues acquiring a visa.

The World Sub-Junior, Junior, Master & Open Classic Powerlifting Championships are being held from September 23 – October 3.
On Monday he got the dreaded news : he will not be able to attend.

“This is due to a visa issue; Guyana is the only participating country that requires a European Schengen Visa to travel to Sweden”, he expressed in a statement to the media.

“I along with the federation had exhausted all our options in trying to obtain this visa within the said period needed but to no avail. The only response we had gotten for the closest date for the interview, given the pandemic protocols would be after the competition, which would defeat the entire purpose of this trip.”

According to the powerlifter, it is the second successive occasion he is missing the event after being fully prepared.
The 27-year-old whose primary goal is to become the best in the world for the 93kg category, was eying this event to make significant moves in the rankings. He is currently seventh in the world with a total of 790.0 points.

“I know in my heart that I would have placed within the top tier of the best 5 lifters, and it is a disappointing feeling knowing that it was out of my control, having everything in place to travel aside from the visa.”

Petterson-Grifith said while it is a significant setback, he is fixed on attending next year’s World Championships in South Africa, but now he will place focus on competing at the South American Championships in Ecuador from December 8 -12.

The National Sports Commission had sponsored his trip in its entirety and he thanked them for the support, along with Fitness Express, MVP Sports, GuyBisco, and DeSinco Trading along with others.